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Sunday, December 31, 2006

New Years Eve 2006

I was in a bad mood this morning. Maybe the "coffee buzz" combined with the turn of events made me edgy and on the eve of 2007, I had a "crappy" outlook on life. I thought, "This world won't ever get any better. Man is the same as he ever was and that's not good."

I'm feeling better now, thanks. Living may get tedious but, as they say, it beats the alternative.

This morning, a friend called asking for help. She wants me to talk to her son about the war in Iraq. She is about 25 years older than me and I think her son is a few years younger. She is distressed because her son is opposed to the war. She is a conservative Christian and is disturbed by his "liberal opposition" to the war. I want to tell her that it's irrational to try to reason with people deep into BDS. I want to tell her that our side is at a low point in the "long war" and are even beginning to argue amongst ourselves. Do I tell her that the other side may have been right about the futility of the endeavor? Do I tell her that Iraq has been mishandled and now there doesn't appear to be an upside? Do I tell her that for us (the US) it's over in Iraq. Even if Bush elects to surge US troop strength, the Democrats won't go along with the plan. Should I tell her that the best thing we can do is leave the inevitable bloodshed to the Iraqis while those of us who see the danger of militant Islam regroup and rethink our long term strategies in the face of world opposition. Should I tell her that the other side only wants to see us eat crow, so it's best to say little or nothing while they enjoy their turn at hubris and schadenfreude?

Should I remind her that when we place our faith and trust in mankind including our fellow conservatives, we will always be disappointed? Or do I tell her that the sun will come out tomorrow and that we should all just stay on the sunny side of life?

Yes, lord acton, but Dec 7, 1941 was within 400 days of the end of '42. We are four years into Iraq, five years and some months since 9-11-01.While the War had raged in both China and Europe before Pearl Harbour so to had the Mohammedans been on an unopposed offensive before 9-11-01.

As Senator Lugar said this morning when asked if the US should send combat troops in a surge to Iraq. "To combat who?"

Who is the War against?Specificly.Inquiring minds and all that

Five years into the War and a senior Republican Senator asks to be told by the President just who the Enemy is, in Iraq.

Do you see the jihadis taking and holding for any significant period of time ANY of the nations where they are currently fighting (see Roggio's excellent year end summary of jihadi hot spots)? Chaos isn't that hard to create. Maintaining power for a prolonged period of time is one hell of a lot harder, especially when you live and breathe a dysfunctional, ludic and nihilistic theo-philosophy. They have a track record of being despised by their own people when they are in power.

For all of your realism/cynicism, do you really see the jihadis winning this thing: the clash of civilizations?

Just finished reading Churchill's River War about the Sudan campaign of 1898. The Mahdi/Dervish empire had all of the piss and vinegar of the current jihad. They had gone from victory to victory for over 10 years. The initial responses from the Great Power (Great Britain) were fiascos, not least because of domestic discord....sound familiar?

Then the Brits built a railroad through the friggin' dessert and exterminated the Dervishes.

Demographics in Western Europe and in the Levant give the Mohammedans the advantage in both locales.In Iraq the US has empowered a Mohammedan Government rather than a secular one, so in Iraq, the US is not winning. Per both Mr Gates & Mr Bush's assessment as well as mine.

In Iran the nuclear cascades continue, the Pakistani nukes are a greater threat to the World than ever before. Entire swaths of Pakistan have fallen to the Mohammedans.In Eygpt the Brotherhood made democratic gains and there is often turmoil when a Pharoah dies, succession is not always assured.In the Sudan the Mohammedans continue their genocidal policies.

In Somalia there is today a ray of sunshine, but the US has called for negotiations and early Ethiopian withdrawl.

So, yes, there are scenarios where the US can take a heavy hit. Short term oil dispruptions and Homeland terrorism. While the US would eventually win, the War itself would have to be considered a defeat.

I agree, we will win THE WAR, but waging total war (again) would be a defeat. I have posted several times on this here and at BC. Wretchard's third conjecture and all of that. Toynbee called it the knock out blow that presaged a civilization's ultimate demise. So, since we agree that a total war would be a moral defeat, what are our options?

IMHO, the current strategy has flashes of brilliance.

Taking the war to the heart of the middle east has brought the jihadofascist chickens home to roost, so to speak. Look at the public opinion polls vis the popularity of the U.S. and Al Queda in muslim countries since 9/11. A small, slow, but significant improvement in attitudes towards the U.S. and a big hit for the jihadists.

The Saudis, Pakistanis and Palastinians are having to face their own significant blowback problems. Southeast Asia and Europe are slowly waking up to the peril within.

As for democracy as a transformer of the mideast, it seems like early days to be planting the gravestone on that project. Communism in Europe was seemingly going strong until it so obviously wasn't. I'd give this project several more years before I would be bold enough to pronounce judgement.

Again, I do not underestimate this nation or her people. And I try to pay attention to events, not the talking heads...

Thailand just got hit by bombs. Nobody has owned up to it, but Thai officials claim that it's not likely to be Muslim insurgents.http://news.google.com.sg/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/9-0&fp=459853769221678f&ei=y4aYRZmcJ4_MpwLw6-GpDw&url=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0%2C%2C1980963%2C00.html&cid=0http://news.google.com.sg/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/29-0&fp=459853769221678f&ei=y4aYRZmcJ4_MpwLw6-GpDw&url=http%3A//voanews.com/english/2006-12-31-voa11.cfm&cid=0

Oh yeah, it's those warlike Buddhists and Christians who set those bombs. Puh-lease.

In the recent decade, which party has been responsible for virtually all of the terror bombs attacks?

My dad says part of the reason why the Thai government is reluctant to engage the Muslim insurgents is due to the illicit support they receive across the border from Malaysia.

The northern Malaysian states close to Thailand are all quite heavily muslim fundamentalist, and light on chinese on the ground. No surprise that these are also the poorest and most under-developed states in Malaysia.

In the past, the insurgents were more or less balanced out by the Malayan Communist Party, which consisted of communist chinese, who were in turn said to be given some support by the Thai government. But since its dissolution, there has been no counterweight to the Muslim movement in southern Thailand.

I wonder what the big problem is. Just go and hunt down those insurgents in the south? As for Malaysia, who the fuck cares? The chinese and moderate muslim voters will not back any play by the Malaysian government to support the insurgents, even if it's just a stance of solidarity with their fellow muslims.

2007 will be the year of the Glenn and Helen Reynolds sex tape and fashionable hijabs.

Excesses of Hilton, Richie, Spears and Lohan will converge with publicists infatuation with Islamic sexuality and a new age of prudence, Victorian in its absurdity, will be broadcast on our airwaves.

In the meantime, the hottest girls will continue to be found on the Internet and will star in no movies.

TV will come to Islam. Already, CNN reminds us of how holy and devout the muslims are. No worries in Thailand, for many millions of muslims old and young are on the magical Hajj. For each of them, it is as if they were in the movie Rudy, and Allah has put them in the game. Expect the Hijab to come to American television and sitcoms.

The Islamic diet will be right around the corner too. Halal will become a fad, a preparation delightful and without the disagreeable moral excesses in those infidels who'd sell us Trans Fat weapons to Israel.

To many westerners, a secular idea of the "infidel," the outsider within, will join the "apostate" thats already making the rounds.

Radical athiests will do something in America. They will be the next domestic terrorists. Tribulation awaits.

-Richard Dawkins has cult like powers over these technophilic philistines; he has gone viral on the Internet. -Sam Harris gave a talk where he urged athiests to mock, ridicule and confront any and all religious believers as a matter of virtue. (He is a consumnant multicultural-phile who fears the Muslim and so must do away with all faiths that compete with Islam.)-Wired Magazine featured a glorious cover waxing journalistic nonsense about the beauty and refinement of athiesm and godlessness-Forums and Internet communities are full of rampant athiests whose only barriers to competing with AQ are their Bin Laden and Zawahiri. They already have their Qutbs. They will not need CIA training to teach them about bomb making.

AspergersGentleman, I took the liberty of creating some artwork that would be fitting for you having a debate with yourself about, well anything. I will spring it on you when you are so inspred to do an above the fold debate within and without.

Oh, did I mention this? The DOE figures that using existing technology we can quite easily produce 1.3 BILLION TONS OF BIOMASS per year.

In the context of the time required to scale up to a large-scale biorefinery industry, an annual biomass supply of more than 1.3 billion dry tons can be accomplished with relatively modest changes in land use and agricultural and forestry practices.

Figure 100 gallons of ethanol/ton of biomass and you have 90% of our gasoline usage.

5th Place (tie): 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 andmedical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

Earlier, you asked my opinion of the deteriorating relationship between the United States and Israel. How do I choose between my father and my mother? By commandment I am obliged to honor both equally.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.